The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has moved the Supreme Court against a notification issued by the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM). The order stated to authorise postgraduate practitioners in Ayurveda system of medicine to be trained to perform certain general surgical procedures.

IMA President, Dr Rajan Sharma said that the petition was already filed on Saturday to urge the court to set aside or suppress the revision of the regulations to the Postgraduate Ayurveda Surgery by CCIM. They have also urged the council to declare that should not have the authority to include modern medicine in Ayurveda syllabus.

The central government had permitted the post-graduation students of Ayurveda to conduct various types of general surgery and medical procedures, which includes ophthalmology, orthopaedic, ENT and dental, by advising an amendment in a gazette notice which the CCIM had issued in November. The up-to-date amendment has allowed PG Ayurveda students to obtain formal training for these surgical procedures. The training elements for these surgical procedures will soon be added to the curriculum of Ayurvedic studies. The move by CCIM has gained a lot of criticism from doctors of modern medicine, resulting in a series of protests by IMA members throughout the country in this month.

Almost lakhs of doctors, with those employed in government hospitals too, wore black armbands at work and protested on the streets in small groups against the CCIM`s notification. The IMA has openly opposed the decisions by the Centre, particularly the proposal to mix modern medicine with the traditional systems of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy in approaching years.

Sharma had earlier mentioned that an integrative system of medicine would make a "khichdi medical system" and will produce hybrid doctors. Also, the apex body of private practitioners of modern medicine had condemned the Centre`s `one nation one system` policy in medical education and has called it a mixture of disaster.

Source: DNA